Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Helen Zille wants meeting with Zuma over Malema

Say it with a sting.....

Zille wants meeting with Zuma over Malema

2010-04-06 21:04Terre'Blanche: Malema denies blameSpike in race tensions - instituteCape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has asked for an urgent meeting with President Jacob Zuma to discuss "the implications of (ANC Youth League president) Julius Malema's hate speech".A written request for a meeting was sent to the president's office on Tuesday, her office said in a statement.Earlier, Zille addressed the media at Parliament on the murder at the weekend of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terre'Blanche and Malema's use of a struggle song that includes the words "shoot the boer".She told journalists that merely pointing out, as the African National Congress had done, that there was no direct evidence linking Malema's hate speech to Terre'Blanche's murder was "unhelpful, to say the least".Zille also called on Zuma to "act like a president and tell his youth league and its leader that we cannot allow our history of division to destroy our chances of building a shared future".Use of struggle songsResponding to a question, she said Malema's use of a provocative struggle song had not come out of nowhere."When we have a leader who sings 'bring me my machine gun', what's the machine gun for? Not eating your breakfast. That's the critical point; these things all go together."Struggle songs are part of our history, but then there are very different struggle songs as well, that don't contain those words."For a leader to sing a song about "bring me my machine gun" was totally inappropriate in a constitutional democracy.Zille warned that Malema was prepared to sacrifice South Africa's future to further his own ambitions.'Power hold' over ZumaHe had no concept of the rule of just law and due process, and no understanding of the Constitution, for which many had worked and were seeking to defend."(He) believes that in his personal, political interest he can undermine everything everybody has fought for, for so long, and sacrifice everyone's future for the sake of his personal ambitions. That is what we're dealing with here."Julius Malema occupies no position at any level of government... Yet somehow he manages to drag everybody else in that government around by the nose," she said.It was crucially important for Zuma to take a hard line with extremists such as Malema, but he had not done so, the DA leader said."He's missed opportunity after opportunity, and he lets us conclude only one thing: that Julius Malema has some sort of hold over Jacob Zuma that makes it impossible for Jacob Zuma to do his duty as the country's president," Zille said.- SAPARead more on: hate speech politics ancyl da helen zille julius malema jacob zuma

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Government top brass sing struggle song 07 April 2010Pertunia Ratsatsi

GAUTENG Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and a group of people yesterday defied a court order and chanted struggle song Dubul’ iBhunu (shoot the Boer) in Mamelodi, Pretoria.

Mokonyane, Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana and Tshwane mayor Gwen Ramokgopa sang the song at the 31st commemoration of the hanging of struggle hero Solomon Mahlangu.

This comes barely five days after Afriforum succeeded in obtaining an interdict in the Pretoria high court barring ANCYL president Julius Malema from singing the song.

The court last Thursday ruled that Malema could not sing the song until AfriForum’s hate speech application began in the Equality Court.

The ANC expressed its disappointment at Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann’s “lack of consideration” regarding the historical context of the song.

“People disrespect us because we shy away from our history, that is why they take us to court and that is why they vilify Julius. Our struggle songs and graves should form part of our heritage,” Mokonyane said.She urged council to apply to have the Mamelodi cemetery turned into a heritage site.

“When we visit other countries they take us to see the graves of people who died during world wars but in South Africa we take them to Gold Reef City and the Union Buildings. We do not take them to where we have the bones of our young heroes.”

MK Military Veteran’s Association national chairperson Kebby Mphatsoe said they would not sit back and watch when “our songs are being marginalised”, adding that they would not accept the court ruling.

Mahlangu, an Umkhonto weSizwe freedom fighter, was accused of murder and terrorism in 1977 and executed by hanging at the Pretoria Central prison in 1979.